Billionaire Banana Pudding Cake is exactly what you would expect
If you love Banana Pudding you are going to love this one!
Fluffy caramel cake and vanilla pudding with fresh bananas bursting in every bite
The billionaire addition is a layer of caramel as well as in the cake sponge itself!
I love me some caramel any chance I can get so for me this was a total win!
A perfect combination of flavors with the vanilla and banana of traditional Banana Pudding Cake and silky caramel buttercream icing seals the deal!
Nilla Wafers are the signature touch in every traditional banana pudding recipe
But unfortunately they are definitely not vegan so I had to create my own recipe first!
It’s a really simple creaming method recipe with only four ingredients
But of course the cookies are simply added garnish and not completely necessary for this cake
CLICK HERE TO GO GRAB THE NILLA WAFERS RECIPE
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Notes for Success:
The caramel recipe can be made as far as a week ahead of time!
Honestly if you are not a fan of caramel you can totally leave it out of this recipe altogether!
Caramel Cake layers can be baked and refrigerated for a couple days as long as they are wrapped well to prevent drying
You can also freeze the cake layers for up to a month!
A combination of cake flour and all purpose flour is my choice in the cake recipe
But if you have trouble getting cake flour you may use all ~all purpose flour instead, just take out ¼ cup of the total amount of flour
My preference is to always prepare the custard on the day I am ready to build the cake so the custard is able to set more firmly INSIDE the cak
When measuring cornstarch for the custard I cannot stress enough that a kitchen scale is the best way to go.
Cornstarch is a very difficult ingredient to measure consistently with a volume/spoons measure
So while I list both measures below I cannot stress enough how the grams measure with a scale is going to give you the best results.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH HOW TO MAKE THE CARAMEL SPONGE CAKE RECIPE!
Of course you can decorate this cake any way you like but I used these standard cake decorating tools to achieve this look!
Ateco Cake Turntable I’ve had this same one since I was in high school!
Lastly! The Cake Pans!
I almost always bake 3-7″ layers for my cakes versus 8″ cakes, it’s just my preference
But if you only have 2-8″ pans that totally fine, just divide the batter between 2 -8″ pans
Billionaire Banana Pudding Cake
Ingredients
For the Caramel Sponge Cake
- Soy Milk 1½ cups (355ml) *soy milk is the only plant milk that will thicken like buttermilk, but you can use whatever plant milk you prefer
- White Vinegar 1½ Tablespoons
- Vegan Butter ½ cup (113g)
- Vegetable oil ½ cup (117ml) *or more vegan butter
- Granulated Sugar ¾ cup (150g)
- Caramel Sauce *from recipe listed below 1 cup (237ml)
- Salt ½ teaspoon
- Vanilla Extract 3 teaspoons (15ml)
- All Purpose Flour 2 cups (250g)
- Cake Flour 1 cup (120g) *see notes in body of the text article for more info on cake flour
- Baking Soda 2 teaspoons
For the Vanilla Custard
- Soy Milk 2¼ cup (533ml)
- Granulated Sugar ¾ cup (150g)
- Cornstarch 6 Tablespoons (48g)
- Turmeric ¼ teaspoon
- Vegan Butter 1½ Tablespoons (21g)
- Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon (5ml)
For the Caramel
- Granulated Sugar 2 cups (400g)
- Water 6 Tablespoons (90ml)
- Lemon Juice or Vinegar 1 teaspoon
- Plant Milk *highest fat milk works best 1 cup (240ml)
- Vegan Butter 2 Tablespoon (28g)
- Sea Salt l ½ teaspoon
- 1 Recipe Buttercream Icing
- 1 Recipe Nilla Wafers
- 2 Medium Bananas
Instructions
- First prepare the caramel sauce recipe by combining the sugar, vinegar and water in a medium heavy bottom sauce pot stirring only until is dissolved not after it starts to boil or you will get crystals in your caramel!
- The acid helps to prevent this, but it can still happen if you stir after it starts boiling
- Watch it carefully as it turns from a light amber to medium amber, take it off the heat when it is medium amber as it will continue to cook and get darker even after you remove it from the heat
- Slowly & carefully pour in the room temperature plant milk & add the vegan butter stirring slowly & carefully.
- Once the bubbling subsides stir it to a smooth sauce
- Stir in the salt if using
- Pour into a heat proof container and refrigerate until needed *it will thicken as it sits!
- Divide the caramel sauce into 1 cup for the cake batter / ½ cup for the buttercream & ½ cup for between the layers
- Next preheat the oven to 350F and grease & parchment line your cake pans
- Prepare the cake batter by combining the vegetable oil with the melted vegan butter, add the vanilla extract and set aside
- Combine the plant milk with the vinegar and let stand for 5 minutes to thicken.
- Sift all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl, including the sugar.
- Pour the wet ingredients this will be the plant milk mixture and the butter/oil mixture including the cooled caramel sauce into the dry ingredients and whisk smooth about 50 strokes to develop the batter
- Pour the batter into the greased and parchment lined pan(s) and bake immediately in the preheated 350°F oven for 15 minutes, then turn the open temperature down to 325°F to bake the rest of the way, approximately 20 minutes more or when you gently press the centers they are springy to the touch. Or do the toothpick test for moist crumbs.
- Cool in the pan(s) until you can safely touch without burning yourself then turn the cake(s) out onto a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way.
- Meanwhile prepare the buttercream recipe of your choice and at the last stage of mixing add in ¼ cup of that COLD COOLED caramel sauce
- Reserve until needed
- Next prepare the vanilla custard by combining all the ingredients except for the vanilla extract and the vegan butter in a medium sauce pot over medium to high heat and bring to a boil stirring constantly to avoid scorching the bottom .
- Once it starts to bubble let it boil on low heat for about 20 seconds.
- Remove from the heat and add the vegan butter and vanilla extract and stir until melted and smooth.
- Let it cool before attempting to build this cake by layering with sponge cake ½ cup caramel 1 sliced banana then about ¾ cup custard.
- Repeat that same layering with the remaining ingredients then ice the cake with the caramel buttercream & garnish with the last of the caramel sauce and Nilla Wafers Cookies
Notes
Because of the custard filling this cake must stay refrigerated. It will be OK at room temperature for up to 2 hours.
Refrigerated, this cake will stay fresh for up to 6 days
Hi Gretchen, thank you so much for this amazing recipe. In the Carmel, for the plant milk should I use canned canned coconut milk, beverage coconut milk, or are there other plant milks that have a high fat content that you would use besides coconut milk.